There exist connectors comprising a supporting base with a contact-receiving locking clip located in a recess in said base. The clip is constituted by a body which is generally force fitted into the recess, and which defines a cavity having resilient stop means to one side thereof. An electric contact is co-operatively disposed in the body of the clip, and the contact is generally constituted by an oblong member with a ring situated therearound. The electrical contact is situated inside the cavity to co-operate on one side with the stop means of the clip to limit displacement of the contact in one direction, and on the other side with another stop on the supporting base to limit displacement of the contact in the other direction.
Generally speaking, the clip is made of rigid conductor material which is resilient to some degreee, eg. beryllium, while the supporting base is made of a softer insulating material such as a plastics material. Generally this kind of connector is intended to be used on electrical cables to be found in the proximity of vibrating machinery, eg. motors or the like.
Because of the vibrations, which may be at several thousand hertz, the contact (which necessarily possesses some mass), is subjected to the vibrations and repeatedly hammers against the stop made on the supporting base.
Thus, after some time under such conditions, the base is damaged by the hammering contact, and it sometimes happens that the stop is sufficiently degraded for it to cease restraining the contact which consequently escapes from the base. It is thus incontestable that connectors made as described above have a drawback which results in an extremely short service life under some conditions of use.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention is mitigate the drawback described above and provide a connector of the same type as that described above but having a much longer service life. This is achieved by holding the contact member very rigidly in the base and thus preventing it, when subjected to vibrations, from deteriorating the material of the base.